Duty and Honor
"Duty and Honor" is the fifteenth episode of Miami Vice's third season. The episode premiered on February 6, 1987. Summary Castillo and an old acquaintance from Vietnam work on a prostitute murder case with eerie similarities to similar murders in Vietnam, which accompanied an assassination. Plot It's 1972 in Saigon, and Castillo (then as a DEA agent) investigates a murder of a prostitute with "VC (Viet Cong) Whore" written in blood on the wall behind the body. This made six such murders in Saigon, but none of them were actually VC. The Vietnam investigator wondered if Castillo's superiors would do anything about it. Flash forward to 1987, and the same scene has appeared in Miami, same writing, same MO. Castillo wants the Vice team in ASAP, and informs Homicide the particulars--broken neck, no assault, no fingerprints, weapon used was a military issued Ka-Bar, and all wounds are both pre & post-mortem. Crockett and his girlfriend, Theresa (Helena Bonham Carter) are on the St. Vitus Dance, when Crockett has to leave, very reluctantly. Castillo is convinced the Vietnam killer is in Miami, even though the victim was not Vietnamese, they fit the profile, a woman with long, dark, black hair, and the weapon used was a Ka-Bar, a military knife used in Vietnam. Castillo attends a meeting with Jack Colman (Brad Sullivan), security provider for Juan Espinoza, a guest speaker in Miami (considered by some a Communist), after which Castillo speaks with Captain Conley of Metro and requests Vice be taken off this detail to work on the hooker killings, fearing more will occur without investigation, and Conley agrees. Crockett & Tubbs go to the VA and speak with Dr. Morris (Gary Basaraba) who refuses to disclose any information on his patients, so Castillo will provide them with a court order. Crockett is reluctant to do this because, as a Vietnam Vet himself, he understands how the vets will feel. They get a tip from a cabbie that someone is at the crime scene of the killing, and they find a Vietnamese man named Nguyen Van Trahn (Dr. Haing S. Ngor), who claims he used to be Inspector Trahn of the Saigon District Police, who was the one working with Castillo in Vietnam on the murders there. Trahn stopped by the crime scene to be sure this murder ties into the Vietnam murders, which they do. Trahn indicated there were six more murders in nine days in Thailand in 1973, just like in South Vietnam, they stopped suddenly. Crockett & Tubbs get their court order for the VA, and FBI files show no similar murders of this type in the country. Castillo orders all days off cancelled until they find the killer, and Crockett & Tubbs begin their VA interviews. A man (Michael Wright) leaves a hotel room and goes out for the night, finds his next victim, kills her and writes "VC Whore" on the wall in her blood. Crockett & Tubbs haven't found anyone of interest at the VA and Castillo asks them to move faster. Trudy gets files from INTERPOL and find several clusters of six killings in a two week period in several countries, including Thailand, Belgium, Laos, and others. No leads were ever discovered and the killings all stopped suddenly. Trahn was in a refugee camp at the time of the Thailand killings and remembered the final killing took place on April 3 and the next day a Communist leader named Ling Lao was assassinated. Castillo asks Trudy to check the State Department to confirm if the other killings were followed by an assassination. While Crockett & Tubbs continue their VA interviews (without success), Trudy confirms in all cases except one (Copenhagen in 1984) each killing spree was followed by an assassination. Trahn finds in Copenhagen a Czech military attache was killed after the spree, vindicating his theory. Castillo & Trahn go to see Espinoza about canceling his speech Friday due to the murders, but Espinoza refuses to cancel, not wanting to disappoint his followers. Castillo orders all team members to the streets, watching Gina & Trudy, who are working as prostitutes. Crockett spots the man, and has Gina tell him a word in Vietnamese, when she does he becomes violent, and Crockett chases after him before Gina is hurt, and have a car chase, but when Crockett catches him, the man sets the car on fire and disappears. Gina provides a description of the man she saw, and it will be distributed to the police and media. At the VA, Crockett speaks to a vet involved in Operation Phoenix mentions a man called "The Savage" who killed over 40 VC's, behind enemy lines, about half of them in their sleep. The vet says he heard The Savage was emasculated by a hooker, after which he killed her, recuperated and went back to Vietnam in 1970. Castillo & Trahn meet with ex-CIA agent Felix Lawson about The Savage. At the hotel The Savage is staying, the hotel clerk (Judith Malina) sees his picture on TV, then turns it off before he oomes to the desk to get his key, then calls the police to report his presence at her hotel. The Savage saw his composite on TV and kills the clerk. Castillo calls Colman to inform him, then gets ketchup for his meal from The Savage, who has a deal to kill Espinoza, and stays at Colman's place. Lawson finds that The Savage and his handler, Colman, were cut from CIA after the hooker killings in 'Nam. Castillo & Trahn meet Colman in the lobby of his hotel about The Savage, but he is of no help. Castillo calls Espinoza but the line is dead, meaning The Savage is at his location now, and he & Trahn speed over. Trudy finds out that the man with Castillo is not Trahn, that the real Trahn died in the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. But Castillo and "Trahn" are at Espinoza's, Castillo fires two shots to ensure The Savage cannot kill Espinoza in his sleep. Inside Espinoza's place, The Savage stabs Castillo but is saved by "Trahn", who kills The Savage then leaves before the cops arrive, then "Trahn" goes to Colman's place to kill him with a knife. Crockett & Tubbs cannot locate the man nor does INS have any info on him, but left Castillo a note which said that he is not Trahn, that he assumed his name, but was really a North Vietnamese soldier who is now a colonel in the current Vietnamese army. He hunted The Savage and his handler because it was his handler that was the real Savage, that the killer was a victim of war, the real savages are people in both the US and Vietnam that nurture and create assassins. He hopes that Castillo could be his friend and closes without revealing his real name. Notes * The original title of this episode when it aired was called "The Savage", but when it went into syndication and on the DVD set the name changed to "Duty and Honor". * The opening credits now appear as they will for the remainder of the series, no name credit when the Testarossa passes in the night, Saundra Santiago's in the first ocean pass, and Michael Talbott's in the second. * Edward James Olmos wore a ponytail and did not have his mustache in the scenes from Saigon. * Helena Bonham Carter makes the first of two appearances as Crockett's girlfriend, Dr. Theresa Lyons. Her second is in the following episode "Theresa". * Dr. Haing S. Ngor won the 1985 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as journalist Dith Pran (who escaped Cambodia during the 1975-79 genocide) in the movie The Killing Fields. * Brad Sullivan is known to Slap Shot fans as the girl-loving Charlestown Chief Morris "Mo" Wanchuk. * The scene in the outside bar includes a brief shot of the game show "Scrabble", hosted by Chuck Woolery that ran on NBC from 1984-90 and again in 1993. * The Phoenix program was a counter-intelligence operation done by the CIA from 1967-1972 designed to obtain intelligence on North Vietnamese operations. Music *"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (at VA) *"Blood & Roses" by The Smithereens (The Savage on the streets while Crockett does VA interviews) *"Anything" by The Damned (Crockett chases The Savage in the Testarossa) Quotes *"He (Colman) can freeze hell!" -- Lawson to Castillo Category:Miami Vice Season 3 Episodes